Resident Evil 5 Versus; The PS3 Attitude Review

The Resident EvilÂ series is most notable for its single player campaign. In fact, there hasnâ€™t been any true sense of multiplayer until now.

At the game’s release, gamers could play co-op in either the main story or Mercenaries mode. Now, with the Versus expansion, they can take their anger and frustration out on each other rather than Majini.

But is multiplayer meant to grace the world of Resident Evil or should it stick to the likes of Killzone 2 and Resistance? We downloaded the recent update and gave it a test drive to find out.

Versus expands on Mercenaries with four different modes; Slayer, Team Slayer, Survivors, and Team Survivors.

Slayer playsÂ out just as Mercenaries in which you fight Majini in an attempt to get the most points. The only difference is that there are three other opponents gunning for the top spot.

Survivors is a little bit different in that you are hunting each other, rather than the infected. Points are awarded for each hit and kill. They also get deducted if you are on the receiving end of the bullet. Because of this, it is quite easy to go from dead last into the top spot, if it is a close game of course. As expected, the Team modes turn the battle into a two versus two frag-match and require a little bit of teamwork to be the victor.

One thing that preoccupied our minds was how the controls would translate to multiplayer. After all, the ‘stop and shoot’ tactic isn’t necessarily the best for this situation. Usually matches end with a standoff between two characters shooting at each other; the one with the bigger gun taking the kill. That’s not to say there isn’t strategy involved.

Let's be honest; we've ALL thought about shooting him in the head...

The inclusion of Majini in Survivors adds another level of depth in that you cannot sit and wait for your opponent to come into your sights. You must constantly be on the move and make good use of barrels, oil canisters and grenades. Get caught by a Majini and you’re looking at an open shot from someone else.

Each character comes with a different set of weapons and items as well. You have the ability to choose from Chris, Sheva, Jill, and Wesker along with their respective costumes. At the start you are graced with a gun, a healing item, some ammunition and a grenade. It is then up to you to kill Majini and retrieve the items and weapons they drop.

At the beginning, you start with only Chris and Sheva along with their pathetic handguns. In order to play as the more powerful Jill and Wesker you must purchase them from the Bonus Features. That being said, the matches can be unfair if you haven’t unlocked the higher characters. From this writer’s experience, Jill seems to be overpowering with her machine-gun and can just blast down anyone in a matter of moments.

Versus is – how shall we put this – different. It takes some practice to adjust to how things work but is a fun experience. A few refinements (and more balance) could be added to some of the characters and more options would be welcomed, but for now, Resident Evil 5 Versus satisfies our thirst for more zombie action. Even if, most of the time, there are no zombies in sight…